Augtober

We survived our almost 100-degree heatwave this month with a combination of two new ceiling fans (which made it possible to sleep in the hotbox known as our bedroom) and various cool beverages that may or may not have had fermented and/or distilled spirits within.  We hosted a long-overdue housewarming/summer bash, wherein I made skewers and Rae forgot to pace her intake of aforementioned spirits.  It will be awhile before we host another, but man was it fun.  Lots of friends and neighbors in attendance.

The other news this month was threefold:

Firstly, my 93-year-old grandfather took a fall and fractured his hip.  He underwent a partial hip replacement and looked like he might fully recover, but he developed an infection and his blood-pressure, which is normally low, dropped and he's not a candidate for more surgery to treat the infection.  So he's now in hospice care.  The family, as always, has circled wagons, and are surrounding my grandparents with support and love.  The grandparents just celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary this year.

Secondly, Tyler has made some pretty fundamental changes via professional medical and psychological help, including a revision to the diagnosis given by the UW Autism Clinic earlier this year.  Without going into too much detail, we now have a much more solid diagnosis and a much clearer direction for future progress.  We're all cautiously optimistic.

Lastly, my brother Matt would have turned 40 on Saturday.  Talk about your gut-punch.  Wow.

On the up-side, we finally released Arrowflight Second Edition.  It's been eight years since the first edition was released, but our fans understand I've kinda had some stuff going on...

So now we're in the last week of Summer break, and the kids go back to school as the weather turns gray and cold again.  I can't say the rain isn't welcome.  Our yard looks like a hayfield.  And with that, I will leave you with Upside Down Stretch Cat.